Does Big Media Need to Get Any Bigger?

DOES BIG MEDIA NEED TO GET ANY BIGGER?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Norman Lear and Robert W. McChesney]
[Commentary] Over the last 25 years, the number of corporations that dominate television, movies, music, radio, cable and the Internet has dwindled from more than 50 to just a handful of massive conglomerates. Do we really want Big Media to get even bigger? Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin does. He just relaunched the FCC's formal review of media ownership rules. The agency's "Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking," issued July 25, is vague, but its intent is clear: to let a few giant media corporations swallow up more local television channels, radio stations and newspapers in a single market. The Chairman's main target is the ban on "newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership" that prohibits one company from owning the major daily newspaper as well as radio and TV stations in the same area. He'd also like to allow one company to own more than one TV station in smaller markets, and more than two in the largest cities. If the changes are approved, one corporation could own the major daily newspaper, eight radio stations and three television stations in the same town. Once the digital television transition is completed in 2009 -- allowing stations to broadcast multiple signals -- one company could control 12 or even 18 television channels in a single city. But what's good for Big Media's bottom line isn't always good for the rest of us. The first casualty of "media company towns" would be journalism.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-lear5aug05,0,246426...
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